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Europe's oldest woman dies in France aged 114

Marie-Therese Bardet, born 1898 in Loiret, western FranceReuters/Laetitia Notarianni

The oldest known woman in Europe, French national Marie-Therese Bardet, has died just days after celebrating her 114th birthday at her retirement home in the village of Pontchateau in the western Loire-Atlantique region of France.

Bardet was the sixth oldest person in the world, according to the US-based Gerontology Research Group, which compiles birth certificates of people aged over 110 years.

Born 2 June, 1898, in Lorient to an unmarried mother who gave her up to the authorities, Bardet celebrated her birthday surrounded by her extended family. She has two children, seven grandchildren, 15 great-grandchildren and six great-great grandchildren.

Her two children are aged 90 and 88 years old.

Although her health had deteriorated gradually over the past two years and her hearing and speech were not good, she ate with the residents at the retirement home twice a day.

American Besee Cooper, born in August 1896, is currently the world’s oldest living person.